Wristbands, Not Sweatbands

I learned something very important a couple months ago about protecting my wrists while wearing ring grips (this would apply to wearing any grips). I remember having raw and painful wrists after most workouts when we did either Rings or High Bar (which was just about every workout). Over the years I had several different sets of sweatbands, and I remember a few times using coach tape over them or over pre-wrap either alone or underneath sweatbands.

Fortunately (as I discovered later) the first time I came into the gym after Thanksgiving 2010 when I decided I wanted to compete on Rings again, I forgot my gym bag and had to dig grips from the lost and found and borrow a set of wristbands from one of the guys on the ASU team. They fit well and felt good, and my wrists were perfectly fine after working out on the rings that day.
I didn’t think about it much because it had been about 10 years since I had worn grips, but the next time I came in (a week later) I remembered my gym bag and brought my old sweatbands. I had very bad sores on my wrists after that, and even 2 weeks later they were still healing (see pic on the right). So I decided after that I would find the same kinds of wristbands I had borrowed before I went into the gym again. I went to Dick’s sporting goods and found one set that looked the same as those I borrowed among about 20 racks of sweatbands.

The key is the stitching looks a bit like corduroy or a shrunken knitted sweater instead of like cotton candy. See a comparison of my old white sweatbands to my new black wristbands in the pic on the left. I chose the 6″ size because that’s the size I had borrowed and it would provide good coverage even if they got bunched up a little. I haven’t had sores on my wrists since then. I refer to my old wristbands (and all those which look like them) as “sweatbands” because that’s all I consider them good for now – catching sweat.

Since it was difficult for me to find, I’ve included a link to amazon on the right showing the type of wristbands that will protect your wrists during workouts (the Under Armour “performance” wristbands are like my old sweatbands – I don’t recommend that kind). The wristbands I bought are similar to those in the picture except they are 6″. The key is that they are ‘Jacquarded’, which I found mention of at http://www.dictionary.com/browse/jacquard:

Jacquard weave. a fabric in which the design is incorporated into the weave instead of being printed or dyed on

If you look at the fabric it is woven instead of puffy like sweatbands. That means they don’t capture as much sweat but for protecting your wrists in gymnastics they are much better.